U17 AFCON: Nduka Ugbade pleased with Nigeria progression to quarterfinal

By Saheed Afolabi

Nigeria U17 head coach, Nduka Ugbade is glad with the team’s progress to the quarter final after seeing off South Africa 3-2 in their last group B encounter in Constantine.

The Golden Eaglets made a rocky start to the encounter as they had to come from behind twice to earn victory and seal their place in the last eight of the continent’s youth tournament in Algeria.

The former international admitted his side’s were up against a difficult side in the Amajimbos but is fully pleased with the exciting display of his boys.

“It was a really tough match because South Africa is a really good team and they gave us a tough time,” Ugbade told CAFOnline.com.

“They have three players that are really good; Mabena (Siyabonga), Mkhawana (Vicky) and Dokunmu (Michael). They are very talented players and I was honestly scared of them at first.

“We worked a bit in training and we did some corrections. We realized that it was purely psychological and we talked to the players and we saw an improvement today. We might have conceded two but I am glad we scored three.”

The Golden Eaglets will face either Cameroon or Burkina Faso in the quarter final as they chase the FIFA U17 World Cup place and also a third U17 AFCON title in Algeria.